Neue Heimat
A society that was concerned with fostering good relations between East Germans and citizens of German descent in non-Socialist countries. The Neue Heimat (NH, New Home) was founded on December 4, 1964, in East Berlin and existed through 1989.
It was part of the German Democratic Republic’s (GDR's) network of the League of Friendship, which originated from the Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries that was founded on June 6, 1952, and primarily concerned relations with Socialist countries. However, it also maintained relations with citizens in some capitalist countries. With increasing activity in foreign policy, the GDR’s information policy was organized territorially into regional societies of friendship, with the League of Friendship serving as an umbrella organization. Its goal was to promote information on the GDR according to East German foreign policy objectives; that is, to be recognized as a sovereign state. Furthermore, the NH was an important mediator of German Socialist culture, providing programs in English that were broadcast on Radio Berlin International (RBI) that could be received in the United States. Its publications in the English language ranged from newsletters on the GDR’s sports achievements to the “German Democratic Republic in Construction,” the “German Review,” and the “GDR Report.” They could be ordered free of charge from the Deutsche Buch Export- und Import GmbH in Leipzig. In the 1950s West German ambassadorial staff in Englishspeaking countries considered these publications more colorful, easier to read, and better targeted at their intended audience. This impression changed when the GDR publications began to carry less information and more ideology. The League of Friendship approached German Americans in the 1960s. According to the Chicago Abendblatt, many German Americans had received a letter and a GDR Review from the Society for Cultural Relations to Foreign Countries.After the establishment of the NH in 1964, this society took full control of GDR activities in the United States and provided assistance for Americans in the GDR. In 1976 it was among the organizers of the East Berlin reception on the 200th anniversary of U.S. independence in the House of Ministries on July 4. Franz Loser, president of the GDR Paul Robeson Committee, praised the ideals and successes of the U.S. War of Independence and the traditions of progress. Continuing to target the German American lobby, the NH published an ad in the New York newspaper Aufbau aimed at homesick German Americans who were invited to write to the Society Neue Heimat in East Berlin to stay in touch with home. In spite of the enormous financial efforts of the GDR to make a positive impression on U.S. visitors such as Angela Davis, U.S. emigres such as Dean Reed, and those Americans interested in the GDR, the impact of the NH remained marginal. It was dissolved in 1990.
Christiane Rosch
See also Aufbau; Davis, Angela Yvonne; Reed, Dean
References and Further Reading
Gaida, Burton C. USA-DDR, Politische, Kulturelle und Wirtschafiliche Beziehungen seit 1974. Bochum: Studienverlag Dr. N. Brockmeyer, 1989.
“Liga fur Volkerfreundschaft der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik.” In Kulturpolitisches Wδrterbuch. Ed. Harold Buhl. Berlin: Dietz, 1970—1976, pp. 345-347.
Mallinckrodt, Anita M. Die Selbstdarstellung bei der deutschen Staaten im Ausland. Image- Bildung als Instrument der Auβenpolitik, Wissenschaft und Politik. Cologne: Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik, 1980.